Ibrahim El-Salahi The Song of the Tyrant's Bird from Prison Notebook 1976

  • MoMA, Floor 4, 420 The David Geffen Galleries

THE SONG OF THE TYRANT'S BIRD

Come close to me. Stand by my side.

Keep me company.

I’ll share my food with you.

I’ll dictate my words unto you

Until I become the ears for your hearing,

Your eyes with which you know,

Your guiding light leading to my path.

Be with me. I guarantee you everlasting eternal happiness.

Eternal happiness, eternal happiness, eternal . . . eternal happiness . . .

Ibrahim El-Salahi: I gave this bird the song of the bird of the devil, the governing devil.

Publication excerpt from Ibrahim El-Salahi. Prison Notebook, 1976. The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2018.
Medium
Ink on paper from a notebook with thirty-eight ink on paper drawings
Dimensions
11 1/4 × 6 3/4" (28.6 × 17.1 cm)
Credit
Acquired through the generosity of Marlene Hess and James D. Zirin, Catie and Donald Marron, Alice and Tom Tisch (in honor of Christophe Cherix), Marnie Pillsbury and Committee on Drawings and Prints Fund
Object number
319.2017.9
Copyright
© 2021 Ibrahim El-Salahi / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / DACS, London
Associated work
Prison Notebook
Department
Drawings and Prints
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